Top Items:
New York Times:
Russian 2016 Influence Operation Targeted African-Americans — The Russian influence campaign on social media in the 2016 election made an extraordinary effort to target African-Americans, used an array of tactics to try to suppress turnout among Democratic voters and unleashed a blizzard …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Shareblue Media, Washington Post, Raw Story, Daily Kos and CNN
RELATED:
Ken Dilanian / NBC News:
Russia favored Trump, targeted African-Americans with election meddling, reports say — The Russians set up 30 Facebook pages targeting the black community, the researchers found, and 10 YouTube channels that posted 571 videos related to police violence against African-Americans.
Discussion:
Washington Post and Bloomberg
Washington Post:
New report on Russian disinformation, prepared for the Senate, shows the operation's scale and sweep
New report on Russian disinformation, prepared for the Senate, shows the operation's scale and sweep
Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:
Russians sought to recruit ‘assets’ through social media, Senate told
David McCabe / Axios:
Senate-commissioned reports show scale of Russian misinformation campaign
Senate-commissioned reports show scale of Russian misinformation campaign
Discussion:
Politico
Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
Michael Flynn's business partner charged with illegally lobbying for Turkey — A business partner of Michael Flynn is being charged with acting as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy for attempting to get Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen extradited from the United States.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, New York Times, Breitbart, HuffPost and Political Wire
RELATED:
U.S. Department of Justice:
Two Men Charged with Conspiracy and Acting as Agents of a Foreign Government — An indictment was unsealed today charging Bijan Rafiekian, aka Bijan Kian, 66, of San Juan Capistrano, California, and Kamil Ekim Alptekin, 41, of Istanbul, and a Turkish national, with conspiracy …
Discussion:
Law & Crime
New York Times:
Former Michael Flynn Business Associates Indicted in Turkey Lobbying Case — WASHINGTON — Two former business associates of Michael T. Flynn, President Trump's first national security adviser, have been indicted as part of a federal investigation into Turkey's secret 2016 lobbying campaign …
Discussion:
New Republic, Axios, CNN and Mediaite
Associated Press:
Prosecutors charge 2 involved in Flynn's Turkish lobbying — Two men involved in a Turkish lobbying campaign led by former National Security adviser Michael Flynn have been charged with illegally lobbying in a case related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Luciano Guerra / Washington Post:
I voted for Trump. Now his wall may destroy my butterfly paradise. — The Republican party is abandoning the conservative principles I treasured. — Right now, in Mission, Tex., we don't worry about immigrants who crossed the border illegally or drug smugglers.
Discussion:
Raw Story
United States Senator Lamar Alexander:
Alexander Statement on 2020 Senate Election — NASHVILLE, Tenn., December 17, 2018 - United States Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement: — “I will not be a candidate for re-election to the United States Senate in 2020.
Discussion:
Bloomberg
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Joel Ebert / The Tennessean:
Tennessee US Sen. Lamar Alexander will not seek re-election in 2020 — After roughly a quarter century in elected office, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander will retire. — The former Republican governor, who has served in the Senate since first being elected in 2002, said Monday that he will not seek a fourth term in the upper chamber.
Discussion:
Politico
Wall Street Journal:
Texas ObamaCare Blunder — A judge's ruling will be overturned and could backfire on Republicans. — By The Editorial Board — No one opposes ObamaCare more than we do, and Democrats are now confirming that it was designed as a way-station to government-run health care.
Discussion:
Raw Story
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Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
A Complete Guide to All 17 (Known) Trump and Russia Investigations — WHILE POPULAR MEMORY today remembers Watergate as five DNC burglars leading inexorably to Richard Nixon's resignation two years later, history recalls that the case and special prosecutor's investigation at the time was much broader …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Bloomberg, Mediaite, Axios, Hot Air and New Republic
Holly Otterbein / Politico:
Pennsylvania meltdown triggers Republican alarms — PHILADELPHIA — A GOP implosion in Pennsylvania has Republicans alarmed about President Donald Trump's reelection prospects in a state that proved essential to his 2016 victory. — The enfeebled state party — still reeling …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Raw Story
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
How Trump Made War on Angela Merkel and Europe — The German Chancellor and other European leaders have run out of patience with the President. — This past July, on the final day of the nato summit in Brussels, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, proposed a closed-door emergency meeting.
Discussion:
Politico
Jason Zengerle / New York Times:
These Democrats Will Soon Have the Power to Investigate the White House. How Far Will They Go? — In two weeks, congressional Democrats will return to Washington with the authority to investigate a White House that is suspected of foreign collusion, conflicts of interest and mismanagement of the federal government.
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Chuck Ross / The Daily Caller:
Michael Cohen Adviser Deals Major Blow To The Steele Dossier — Michael Cohen did not visit Prague during the 2016 campaign, as the Steele dossier alleges, according to the former Trump lawyer's adviser. — Lanny Davis vehemently denied the dossier's allegations that Cohen visited Prague to arrange payments to Russian hackers.
RELATED:
John Harwood / CNBC:
Most Americans want action on climate change. Republicans are the exception: Poll — In a new NBC News/ Wall Street Journal poll 66 percent of Americans now say they've seen enough evidence to justify action on climate change, up from 51 percent two decades ago.
Aya Batrawy / Associated Press:
Saudi Arabia rejects US Senate's ‘interference’ in kingdom — RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia issued an unusually strong rebuke of the U.S. Senate on Monday, rejecting a bipartisan resolution that put the blame for the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi squarely …
Discussion:
POLITICUSUSA
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Reid J. Epstein / Wall Street Journal:
California Upends 2020 Democratic Primary Calendar — By moving its presidential primary to early March, California will force candidates to address West Coast issues — When Iowa Democrats hold their February 2020 presidential caucuses, millions of Californians will already have their primary ballots.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Vivian Wang / New York Times:
Cuomo to Push Legalizing Recreational Marijuana in New York by Early 2019 — [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that he would push to legalize recreational marijuana next year, a move that could bring …
Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:
Witches to Trump: Stop Calling the Mueller Investigation a ‘Witch Hunt’ — The witch community is tired of the president invoking the worst moment in their history to serve his political needs. — It may, on the surface, seem like a harmless way to trivialize Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation …
Discussion:
twitchy.com
Adam Wren / Indianapolis Monthly:
Pete Buttigieg Has His Eye On The Prize — Can South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg work the angles to become a dark-horse presidential contender in 2020? — To know Pete Buttigieg is to watch him play a skill crane game, the joystick-guided, mechanical claw-driven pastime found in video arcades …
USA Today:
Americans' message to Washington on the looming shutdown: Don't — WASHINGTON — Americans have a clear message to Washington as the government hurtles toward a partial shutdown on Friday: Don't. — By a double-digit margin, 54 percent to 29 percent, those surveyed in a new USA TODAY …
Discussion:
Shareblue Media
Michael Brice-Saddler / Washington Post:
His fiancee was killed on a run in Logan Circle. He was left with the rest of his life. — On a chilly December morning, nearly three months after the runner's death, her makeshift memorial was still visible. — But things had changed. — The pairs of running shoes and dozens of bouquets …
Walter Dellinger / Washington Post:
Should we be able to indict a sitting president? Consider Spiro Agnew. — Walter Dellinger was head of the Office of Legal Counsel from 1993 to 1996 and acting U.S. solicitor general from 1996 to 1997. — What does the nation do if it turns out that a president of the United States …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly
Laura Barrón-López / Politico:
House Dems eye quick action on guns in new Congress — House Democrats are planning to move several high-profile bills to combat gun violence soon after they take power in January, underscoring their belief that the political landscape has shifted dramatically on an issue that's plagued American society for decades.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
Karol Markowicz / New York Post:
Soaring suicides are another sign of our toxic social disconnect — Americans are dying — earlier than they have been and often at their own hands. — According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2017 tally, there has been a dramatic rise in the numbers of US deaths by suicide and drug overdose.
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications
Glenn Greenwald / The Intercept:
A Texas Elementary School Speech Pathologist Refused to Sign a Pro-Israel Oath, Now Mandatory in Many States — so She Lost Her Job — A children's speech pathologist who has worked for the last nine years with developmentally disabled, autistic, and speech-impaired elementary school students in Austin …